ABSTRACT
The year 1905 saw the outbreak of serious unrest in India, caused by the decision of Lord Curzon's administration to partition the province of Bengal. This chapter shows that the Department of Criminal Intelligence (DCI) would have had no success even if it had taken to scaremongering, so great were the ideological barriers to the development of a political police force in India. In the period up to 1914, however, both the Government of India and the India Office felt strongly that any advantage to be gained from 'repression' would be greatly offset by the damage to the reputation of the Raj in the eyes of the great majority of Indians who had no connection with political violence. After the beginning of 1907 the Department of Criminal Intelligence ensured a regular, clear flow of information about the extreme nationalist movement and the native press from the provinces in the Weekly Reports of the Director of Criminal Intelligence.
